The Auburn Hills Police Department is stating that a post circulating on social media about an attempted kidnapping of a young girl at Great Lakes Crossing Outlets is false.

It’s the second false claim about the mall to go viral since September, an ongoing issue for the Auburn Hills Police Department.

Every six months or so, a new story pops up on social media and begins making the rounds, warning people of an attempted kidnapping, stalking, or human trafficking incident at the mall. Auburn Hills police investigate all of the claims stemming from those kinds of posts, which to date, haven’t turned out out to be true.

“We take this very, very seriously. We’d rather investigate and find out that it’s not true than let it spin out on the rumor mill. And it’s a game of telephone with these stories,” Jill McDonnell, public information officer with Auburn Hills police said.

“Some of the investigations take about an hour, some of them can take days. That’s resources we’re taking away from another case. It’s costly to us and it creates panic.”

In 2015, a story about a sex trafficking ring attempting to lure young girls with candy at the mall got so popular, the police department submitted information for an article to Snopes, a popular fact-checking website.

Scenes from last year's Black Friday at Great Lakes Crossing Outlets in Auburn Hills.

Photo by Natalie Broda - Digital First Media

“People really need to stop and think, if someone was kidnapped from the mall, who would be the first face out there? It would be us,” McDonnell said. “We have had incidents there, but a lot of them are acquaintances and we solve them right away. We are very productive and have a great relationship with security there to ensure safety for that entire retail area.”

Such as a substation inside the mall.

When asked why she believes the false-warning stories are so persistent, McDonnell said it’s partly because Michigan is proactive in rooting out and prosecuting sex trafficking, driving countable numbers up.

“We as a state, as a people, are passionate about investigating and prosecuting it,” she said. “Sometimes, people get ahead of themselves trying to be helpful.”

The department hasn’t looked into consequences for the posters who make false claims or warnings on social media, as opposed to filing a false police report. Above all, McDonnell said she wants people to know they can always reach out directly to police if they think they’ve seen or know of an incident.

Scenes from last year's Black Friday at Great Lakes Crossing Outlets in Auburn Hills.

Photo by Natalie Broda - Digital First Media

“When I see this stuff out there I let people know it’s not true, but people should really be calling the police. Many times when we backtrack, we find these people never called police or security,” she said.